Vikings receiver Jerome Simpson's three-game suspension upheld

The NFL upheld its three-game suspension of Vikings wide receiver Jerome Simpson, the team announced Friday, sidelining the veteran pass catcher until Week 4 against the Atlanta Falcons.

He will be allowed to resume practicing with Minnesota on Sept. 22. The Vikings, meanwhile, can fill Simpson's roster spot as the club prepares to finalize its 53-man roster by Saturday's deadline.

Simpson's suspension figures to secure jobs at least through the first three weeks of the regular season for Adam Thielen and Rodney Smith, who were battling for the final roster spot at wide receiver.

The league denied Simpson's appeal following his November drunken-driving arrest and suspended him for the second time in three seasons as a repeat offender under the collectively bargained Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.

Simpson pleaded guilty Jan. 2 to careless driving and refusing to submit a chemical test following a plea deal with the Minneapolis attorney. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the DUI count and a Hennepin County judge sentenced him to two years' probation.

Simpson was charged with driving under the influence and refusing to submit to a chemical test after State Police encountered him with his disabled vehicle Nov. 9 on Interstate 394 just outside downtown Minneapolis.

David Valentini, his Minneapolis defense lawyer, testified last week before NFL hearing officer Harold Henderson. He argued the league should not punish Simpson because his client ultimately was convicted of misdemeanor charges of careless driving and refusing to submit a chemical test.

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Simpson served a three-game suspension in 2012 with Minnesota after being convicted of a felony for mailing two pounds of marijuana to his Kentucky home while he was playing for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The NFL suspended him in May 2012 and the Vikings signed him as a free agent knowing they would be without his services for a period. He returned Week 4 of that season and missed another game with a foot injury.

He is on probation in Kentucky until 2015 and in Hennepin County until 2016.

Simpson was second on the team in 2013, his sixth season in the NFL, with 48 receptions and 726 yards.

His second brush with the law in two years contributed to his salary being cut from $2.1 million last year to $1 million, with a $500,000 signing bonus but no guaranteed money in his latest deal.